Why Mariano Rivera is overrated...

[LarryWalkerFan]

Easy: Craig Kimbrel will likely finish his career with over 700 saves. Why?

He's currently sitting at 293 career saves. This season, he'll likely have 45 saves. That would place him at 336.

If he averages only 33 saves per season for 11 more years, he'll be sitting on 699.

His workload is fairly light, and there's a good chance he'll have 1500+ Ks for his career.

I wouldn't be surprised by the following line for his career:

sub-2.50 ERA
1600 Ks
725 saves
sub-1000 BB+H
sub-70 HRs

Remember, Kimbrel isn't even considered the best closer right now. That's Kenley Jansen.

It's entirely viable that Rivera ends up being #3 on the all-time closer (saves) list a mere five seasons after his 2019 HOF induction speech.

[sox83cubs84]

I never thought of Rivera as over-rated per se, but the worshipful tones announcers on Fox, ESPN and anywhere else made it sound like he was a surer thing than Superman beating Batman in an arm wrestling match. That used to piss me off to no end, second only to the ass-kissing of Len Kasper and Bob Brenly used to do on Cubs games when Bud Selig visited their booth on WGN.

Dave Miedema

[1929tudor]

A guy that comes in and pitches 1 inning a game like Rivera to me isn't a HOFer. All the other 9 players on the opposing team have played a full game up to the point he comes in and he is fresh from sitting most of the game except to warm up. If it's 90 degrees outside who do you think is going to have the edge, the guy playing the past 3 hours in the heat or the guy sitting in the shade all game.